


soft hearts, electric souls (it takes my breath away)

by Calliemarie



Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gay, Help, Idk what to tag it for for characters, M/M, and it's inkling/inkling so idk about relationships, gay inklings, i'll make better tags later someone should help me plx, im gogna scream, inklings - Freeform, literally everyone in this is an OC so, lmao help me idk how to tag stuff, uh, whatever its pretty gay either way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-08 14:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5500580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calliemarie/pseuds/Calliemarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She internally chided herself for being so forgetful, that was, until she noticed the inkling that was standing behind the door.</p><p>"Uh," The inkling coughed out, "Hi, please don't call the police."<br/>--------<br/>in which a team of romantically-challenged squid kids try to bop-bop-bop their way to the top. also there’s a robbery</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which the author introduces a majority of the characters

**Author's Note:**

> I literally just put my music on shuffle to figure out the title of this lmao help  
> also: someone please help me with the summary I will pay u in my never-ending gratitude

The shrill sound of Judd’s whistle cut off the Gold Dynamo user mid swing, startling her so bad that she feel backwards off her perch on the ledge at Blackbelly Skatepark. She let out a high-pitched squeak and landed with a thud on the grate on the other side, her Roller falling out of her hands and landing on the ground below. She groaned, feeling around the back of her head where the tube connecting her and her ink tank used to be attached. When she pulled her hand pack it was stained with the same yellow ink that they were using for the battle, and yep, that definitely wasn’t good. Another annoyed sigh escaped her lips as she transformed back into a squid, slipping through the grate and landing with a plop in the ink below, grateful that it was her own color. Standing back into her humanoid form, she fell to her knees and reached for the handle of her Roller, moving it towards her, all the ink depleted from the roller itself since the tube connecting it to her body got pulled out when she fell. Heaving it up over her shoulder, she then grabbed her Squid-Stitch Cap and her ink tank. Strapping the ink tank back on her back, not bothering to reconnect the tube, and pulling her hat back over her head, she made her way back to the spawn point where the rest of her team was waiting.

“Hey Jess, what took you so long?” Jamie, their team captain and the Roller user’s best friend, asked, his paintball mask muffling his voice somewhat.

She shrugged and began to speak, but got cut off by the sound of the floor under the spawn point dropping, allowing them to swim through the ink back to Inkopolis Tower where they would receive the results.

When they were all back in humanoid form, she motioned to the yellow ink that was now dripping down her Squid Satin Jacket and into the ink of the spawn point. Jamie’s eyes widened and he put his hand over his mask where his mouth should be. She hushed him and mouthed, “One sec,” before turning her attention to the screen that Judd was staring at intently. The other team was giving each other high fives, as they had obviously won, and just to confirm it, Judd turned around and held a flag towards the other team. Jess reluctantly gave them high fives, congratulating them on their win, and after she finished complimenting the other team’s Carbon Roller user, Jamie pulled her aside with the rest of the team. He dropped his Kelp Splat Charger and pulled off his mask, revealing a pair of mismatched eyes, the right one being a vibrant pink and the other a neon orange.

“What happened out there? Did the stopper come out? Are you okay?” He asked frantically, one hand reaching out to grab her own hands, the other resting on her forehead.

She gave a quiet laugh, “Yeah, bro, I’m good.” He looked at her skeptically, and she continued, “I kinda fell, and uh,” She motioned towards the stopper on the end of her tube that was coated in halfway dry yellow ink, “The thing came out. It only hurts a little, I’ll get someone to look at it.” He seemed content with that answer and let go of her hand, picking his weapon up off the ground, and shifting back into his preferred shade of neon green. Jess changed into her preferred color, turquoise, and walked with Jamie to the table where Judd held their winnings.

“Okay, just uh, stay safe okay? Me and the rest of the team are gonna head over by the Comeback Café if you feel better, okay?” Jamie spoke while grabbing his earnings from Judd, Jess doing the same.

“Yeah, totally, uh, I’m probably gonna have to go home though, my clothes are soaked, I’ll go with you to get a drink, but then I’m gonna head back.” She said, already feeling lightheaded from losing so much ink in such a short time. They walked out of the tower and turned to the left, making their way into the restaurant below the Squid Sister’s studio. The pair of inklings found a table and set their gear down, Jess sitting down while Jamie stayed standing.

“You want what you normally get, right?” He asked, reaching into the pocket of his Dark Urban Vest and fishing out a few hundred dollar coins.

“Yeah, thanks,” She replied, “Can you get a few napkins also?”

He nodded and turned to go to the counter and get their food. While he was ordering, Jess saw the other two members of their team walk in. Mia, their N-ZAP ’89 user, seemed to be deep in conversation with Aaron, their Custom Range Blaster user. She waved them over, and they joined her at the table.

“So, like I was saying, you like, literally can’t do anything with a blaster, it’s like, not even good, I could like understand if it was like, a charger, because with those you have at least good range, but with a blaster all you can do is like one hit KO someone, you like can’t even ink turf that well.” Mia said nonchalantly, pulling off her Golf Visor and tipping her chair back so she could put her feet on the table, showing off her new pair of Cherry Kicks, “I don’t know why people use them”

“I could say the same to you, it takes literally no skill to wield a shooter effectively, all you do is point and shoot at anything you see, you don’t have to analyze or think or anything, the most you do is think about where you’re going to put your next inkstrike” Aaron retorted, balling his Bobble Hat in his hand, his face turning nearly the same shade of hot pink as his tentacles, “Plus, I use a  _Range_ Blaster, not like a Luna or Rapid or anything, there’s a huge difference!”

“Uh, what? I couldn’t hear you, all I could hear was the sound of you only inking like 300 points last match” The Purple haired shooter grinned, and looked over at Jess, finally acknowledging her, “Hey Jess, I heard you’re, like, leaking or something.”

“Yeah, I just gotta figure out how to put the stopper back in and stuff, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal…” The Roller user rubbed at the back of her neck, the ink there turning a gross shade of puke green from the ink colors mixing, “Also, no one really did good that match, their E-Liter was seriously good, I think he was like S rank or something, we just need to practice more and stuff, but I gotta go home and wash off or something, I’m like actually wondering if this’ll stain and I can NOT afford to buy a new jacket with how we’ve been playing recently.”

Mia giggled and motioned with her thumb over at Aaron again, “You can thank that guy over there, he had the lowest score.”

“You only got 400 points, Mia, so shut up,” Aaron whisper-shouted, “You’re literally using a gun that was like _made_ for inking turf, you have Sprinklers and Inkstrikes, I was expecting you to get at _least_ 600 points. I mean, Jamie’s a charger and he is a bigger help than you.”

They hadn’t noticed but Jamie had walked over and was now resting one of his hands on Aaron’s shoulder, the other holding a tray with two drinks on it, “You guys need to get along more, seriously, we’ll never get good with you two fighting constantly,” He handed a light purple drink with black beads at the bottom to Jess, “Here ya go, you should probably go home now, clean up and stuff.”

“I’m still leaking though,” She groaned, taking a sip of her drink then putting her head in her hands, “I’m gonna die if I don’t get it plugged up again.”

“Here, uh, turn around,” Jamie instructed, grabbing the tube attached to her ink tank and fumbling around with the stopper at the end. He let out an excited noise and lifted the tentacles at the base of the turquoise haired inkling’s head. He mumbled out a quick, “Sorry if this hurts,” and there was a sudden sharp sting as he pushed in the stopper, effectively cutting off the flow of ink down her back. 

She reeled around at him after he let her go, one hand clutching at the back of her neck, “What the _fuck_ did you do?!?” She asked, annoyed.

He beamed back at her, “I fixed you, I think.”

“You _think_?!”

“Yeah, uh, I put the stopper back in, you might still wanna take it easy though, I don’t know if I did it right.”

She groaned in annoyance, “Whatever, if I die, I’m totally blaming you.”

Mia was wide-eyed, staring at Jamie in awe, “Woaaah, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of cool things, anyways, bye Jess, don’t die, there are no good Dynamo users anymore and I will _never_ play with a Krak-on Splat Roller, _ever_.”

Jess let out an awkward laugh and mumbled out a quick, “Thanks, I’ll see you guys later,” before taking another sip of her drink and heading out into Booyah Base.

It was pretty late out already, her team, The New Squids on the Block, had already spent the entire morning 'practicing', More like Mia goofing off and Aaron yelling at her to take things more seriously and Jamie having to remind them that they had to pay rent and buy groceries still and if they don't start playing soon they're gonna either starve or be homeless. Thankfully, they all lived around the same area, a fairly large complex named Angelshark Apartments, that was about two blocks away from Urchin Underpass. It wasn't too much of a burden though, her team enjoyed walking back from Inkopolis and just stopping on one of the many bridges and watching the Turf Wars that took place below. That, and they liked seeing who could get back to the complex quickest (It was almost always Mia, she seemed to always be full of energy.) Jess happened to be the most unfortunate out of the bunch, having to lug around a 30 pound roller wherever she went, along with her ink tank and the rest of her gear. Sometimes she wanted to just switch to something lighter, maybe an Ink Brush or a Carbon Roller, but every time she tried she couldn't control where she was inking. That and she enjoyed the satisfaction of splatting someone in a single hit too much.

As she got to the train station and got onto the train to Urchin Underpass, she took out her iSquid, texted Jamie a quick, "hey just got on the train, havent died yet lmao", plugged in her headphones, took another sip of her drink, and put on her current favorite song, Sucker Punch by the Chirpy Chirps. The train ride to Urchin Underpass was never very long, only 7 or 8 minutes at most, so she got there before the song even ended. She got off the train, and as she was walking to her apartment, She texted back and forth with Jamie.

Space Cowboy: thats good i dont wanna be dow a teammate and also bc youre the only person on the tean that doesnt hate everyoe aside from me  
Space Cowboy: *down *team *everyone oops  
Meme Queen: lmao yeah

She stopped for a second to walk into the building and turn to the right, thankful she had gotten an apartment on the first floor so she wouldn't have to lug her gear up any steps.  
  
Meme Queen: they need to like shut up and kiss already the romantic tension is killing me  
Space Cowboy: idk i thought mia was daying that one inkbrush chick  
Space Cowboy: *dating ugh  
Meme Queen: what??? i thought they broke up but eeeeeehh whatever brb fam

She rummaged around in her duffel bag for her keys, and when she found them she opened her door and stepped inside. The window on the far wall was open, which was kinda strange since she didn't remember opening it, but she brushed it off as her not having enough caffeine that morning to remember. She set down her gear on the kitchen table and walked into the kitchen. The fridge was open, another thing that she didn't remember leaving open, so she took a sip of her drink and went to go close it. She internally chided herself for being so forgetful, that was, until she noticed the inkling that was standing behind the door.

"Uh," The inkling coughed out, "Hi, please don't call the police."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok if u didn't catch it, this is what everyone looks like/is wearing/uses
> 
> Jess: Gold Dynamo Roller. Turquoise hair, black eyes, third palest skin tone. Squid stitch cap, Squid Satin Jacket, and Punk Cherries.  
> Jamie: Kelp Splat Charger. Neon Green hair, pink and orange eyes, second darkest skin. Paintball mask, Dark Urban Vest, and red work boots.  
> Mia: N-ZAP '89. Purple hair, yellow eyes, fourth palest skin. Golf Visor, Olive Ski Jacket, and Cherry Kicks.  
> Aaron: Custom Range Blaster. Hot Pink hair, brown eyes, palest skin. Bobble Cap, Forge Inkling Parka, and Pro Trail Boots.
> 
> Again, sorry I'm not good at describing things.
> 
> Also: Idk if you guys knew but the drink Jess got was a Taro Bubble tea. If u haven't tried it its like liquid cake its amazing


	2. In which Jess gets robbed and is also gay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jess is gay and has good friends. yay for team bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: i havent worked on this in two years maybe i should delete it  
> me, after playing splatoon again: TWO THOUSAND WORDS lets GO

Jess could hardly believe it. Of course of all days for her apartment to get broken into, the universe chooses this day. She stood in front of her fridge, gaping at the girl inkling, whose face was still mostly cloaked in shadows. The only thing she could pick out was the other girl's vivid green eyes, which were wide with fear. She was wearing a paisley bandana that hid her mouth, and her ink was a dark blue.

 

Jess almost felt bad, she looked so scared. She took a step forward, and the girl took a step back, bumping into the cabinets behind her.

 

"Please, please don't call the police," The girl choked out, "I didn't take anything, I won't come back, just please don't call anyone."

 

Jess felt like she had forgotten how to speak. She started to open her mouth to say something, but the shorter girl put her head down and brought one of her hands to her mouth, covering it through the bandana. She let out a small sob and moved her hand to wipe at her eyes.

 

"Hey, hey it’s okay I'm not mad," Jess said softly, putting her phone into the pocket of her jacket as a sign of peace, "You're okay I'm not gonna call anyone."

 

The girl looked relieved beyond belief. She let a few tears fall, slumping back against the counter and looking up, breathing a sigh of relief.

 

"Thank you so much," She started, letting out a relieved chuckle, still wiping at her eyes, "Fuck, I should go. Thank you for not calling the police."

 

Jess's furrowed her eyebrows, "Wait, you don't-"

 

The girl's eyes crinkled like she was smiling, albeit sadly "I should, though. Sorry for the hassle."

 

Then, the girl ducked to the side, and headed for the window that she came in through. As she stood in front of the window, she hesitated a moment before turning around, pulling down her bandana so that it hung loosely around her neck. Jess felt her jaw go slack at the sight.

 

There was a jagged scar ran from the bottom right of the girl's nose to the center of her chin.

 

"You're a good person. I wish there were more inklings like you."  The girl said, smiling softly, before pulling the mask back up and climbing over the windowsill. "You might wanna keep your windows locked, though. People do crazy things sometimes."

 

Then, in a flash of dark blue, she was gone.

 

Jess let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and pulled up her conversation with Jamie.

 

Meme Queen: hey uh idk a lot of things but i think i just got robbed

 

Jamie barely took five seconds to text back.

 

Space Cowboy: are you serious??????? what the fuck i’m cominh over

Space Cowboy: *coming

 

Jess put her phone on the counter and rubbed her face.

 

What the fuck.

 

She opened the fridge and, sure enough, everything was there. Not a thing out of place. She looked around, turned the lights on, and made a general sweep of her apartment (which wasn’t much) and decided nothing else had been messed with.

 

The thing that was nagging her though, was the window. She cautiously moved towards it, as if something were going to pop up at her.

 

She put one hand to the glass and looked out. Just the fire escape. There was a moment where she was upset the girl hadn’t stuck around, but she quickly brushed it off. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at the girl, except for when she had been near the window. The scar on her face had left an uneasy feeling in her stomach, though. She jumped as her phone chirped from the kitchen. She rushed over to check what it was.

 

Space Cowboy: we’re outside let us in

Meme Queen: us?????

Space Cowboy: open up or i’ll bust down the door.

 

Jess shook herself out and went to open the door. Standing there were Jamie and Aaron. They still had their gear bags with them, and Jamie looked like he was out of breath.

 

“Holy shit, Jess, are you okay?” Jamie asked frantically, his hands went to her shoulders and his mismatched eyes looked her over.

 

Jess laughed at him and pushed one of his hands away, “Yeah, I’m fine, nothings gone.” She looked behind the two boys, “Where’s Mia?”

 

“Mia didn’t wanna come because she was making googly eyes at some stupid slosher chick.” Aaron said plainly, looking around, “What do you mean ‘nothings gone’? I thought you got robbed.”

 

Jess let out a sigh, “Well- uh, weird thing, she was, like, in here, but she didn’t take anything.”

 

Aaron quirked and eyebrow at her and motioned with his thumb at the apartment, “So everything’s here?”

 

Jess nodded.

 

“And you’re sure that someone was here?”

 

“One-hundred percent.”

 

Aaron looked confused, but just mumbled, “Weird…”

 

Jamie took his hand off of Jess’s shoulder and brought it up to smooth along the top of his tentacles, “So what do you want to do? I mean this chick breaks into your house, then just leaves?”

 

“I mean, I don’t know.” Jess sighed, moving into her living room and sitting on her couch. “She was looking through my fridge when I got here, I don’t know if she was gonna take anything like, important, she kinda ran away. Out my window.”

 

Aaron snorted, “You think she just broke in here to rummage through your fridge? Your apartment is on the fourth floor, and fire escapes are hard to climb.”

 

“And hard to carry stuff down,” Jamie reminded him helpfully, sitting down next to Jess, “Maybe you should just let her go? I don’t think she meant any harm, especially if she just left like that after being caught.”

 

Jess sighed and leaned her head on her hand, “I guess. I don’t know though.”

 

Aaron leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the couch, “I agree with Jamie. Though you might wanna be cautious. If it’s that easy to break in here, maybe you should keep your windows locked. Lots’a hooligans from Urchin Underpass.”

 

Jamie nodded, “We want you to stay safe, but it’s ultimately your choice.” He paused, “You’ve had a stressful day, I think it’d be best to just chill for the rest of it.”

 

Jess groaned, letting her head fall back onto the couch, wincing a bit when the stopper hit the back of the couch, “Yeah, I think I’ll rest up, let the stopper thing work itself out, then decide.”

 

Jamie smiled regretfully, “Sorry you’ve had such a shitty day. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll be good enough to have a few battles with us. We kinda need you.”

 

“Yeah, you cover the most ground, we’re lucky you’re on our team,” Aaron piped up, “Plus you’ve got a mean swing.”

 

“Exactly. Aaron and I are just your support. You’re the real star at the end of the day,” Jamie said, patting Jess’s shoulder.

 

Jess ducked her face down, smiling, “You guys are just sayin’ that, stop pulling my leg.”

 

“I don’t know about Jamie, but I’m not makin’ it up. No matter how bad we preform, you always make it a tight call in the end. You’re a natural.”

 

Jess laughed, standing up, “I don’t need this right now, you guys are making me blush,” She pulled Jamie up and pushed him and Aaron towards the door, “Get out, you saps, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

“If I don’t see you tomorrow I’ll switch to a Nozzlenose,” Aaron called, jogging ahead to the door.

 

“Nuh-uh,” Jamie smiled, “If you do that _I’ll_ splat you.”

 

Aaron laughed brightly and opened the door, ushering Jamie out, “Stay alive, I’ll make sure he doesn’t go crazy worrying about you.”

 

“Hey! I would _never,_ ” Jamie chided from the hallway, “Please stay careful though. Eat food. Take a nap. Remember, bright and early tomorrow! Nine A-“ His voice was cut off by Aaron shutting the door.

 

Jess smiled, hearing their voices echo from the hallway, and slid off her jacket, eyeing the dried ink. She picked at a bit with her fingernail, which chipped off in flakes. She brushed them off and carried it over to her washer, throwing it in along with some miscellaneous gear- extra shorts and undershirts and a few t-shirts she used for non-combat situations. As the washer started up, she prayed to the Great Zapfish that the ink would come out.

 

As she was taking dry clothes out of the dryer and putting them in a hamper, her stomach growled loudly. She finished putting them away and went into her kitchen, staring at the spot where the girl had been, her mind flashing back to the way the intruder had looked, all deep green eyes and tan skin.

 

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. It must have been the ink loss, she was hungry and half delirious.

 

 _Food_ , she reminded herself, _you’re in here for food. Gotta eat. Practice tomorrow._

She opened her fridge and rummaged around, trying to find good food. Nothing really caught her eye, so she just pulled out a microwave dinner- vegetable lasagna. That was good food right? She popped it into the microwave and grabbed her drink from the table, and took a sip. It was watered down now, but still good. After a few moments, the microwave beeped annoyingly, alerting her that her food was ready. She grabbed her lasagna and drink and moved to the couch.

 

As she ate, she looked out her window. The sun was dipping low below the horizon, but the tell-tale music of a turf war could still be faintly heard. The sound made her heart ache, and she smiled down into her lasagna. The area around her stopper had stopped thrumming with pain, and had faded into a dull ache that she couldn’t even notice unless she was focusing.

 

For the first time in a long while, she felt hopeful. She had good friends and she was doing something she loved.

 

She finished up and moved the laundry into the dryer. Her jacket had a faint yellow-blue-green stain near the collar, but it wasn’t too noticeable. For good measure, she threw it back into the washer, deciding to just wear something else tomorrow. She went around her apartment, carefully making sure all her windows were locked, and changed into her pajamas.

 

As she lay in bed, she scrolled through the notifications on her phone. There was a text from Mia, a text from her mom and a text from Jamie.

 

She looked at her text from her mom first.

 

Mom: Hey kiddo! Heard you got a little hurt today- it’s no biggie! When I was your age my stopper came out all the time. You’ll be fine! I’m so proud of you for making it out there. Who woulda thought it! My own daughter in a team of her own! I know you’ll do great things! Can’t wait to hear from you! <3

 

She smiled at her phone and typed out a quick

 

Jess: thanks for the inspirational speech!! love u mom <3<3 gnight :)

 

Next she opened Mia’s text:

 

Ugly McUglyface: hey lol sry i couldnt come lol i was trynta get laid u kno how it b sometimes lol

 

Jess groaned.

 

they see me rollin: ur fine it wasn’t that big of a deal lol. im goin to sleep, I’ll see u at practice tomorrow

 

Finally she opened up Jamie’s text.

 

Space Cowboy: Hey it’s aaron, Jamie fell asleep on the train back to inkopolis plaza so I’m just gonna take him back to his apartment. Just wnted to tell you and make sure u knew where he was in case u were lookin for him or someythin idk

Meme Queen: thanks aaron, ur the best

Meme Queen: make sure he eats, he forgets sometimes

Space Cowboy: I’ll make sure. We’re almost back to angelshark’s.

Meme Queen: you’re too good for us, im goin 2 sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow

Space Cowboy: I try :) sleep tight, I’ll see ya.

 

Jess breathed out slowly and plugged her phone in.

 

She stared at the ceiling and let sleep overtake her. As she drifted off, she thought of green eyes and bandanas and people cloaked in shadows.


End file.
